Department of Steel Structures and Structural Mechanics

Short history

Department of Steel Structures and Structural Mechanics

Ioan Curea 1

Timișoara 300224 România

+40 (0) 256 403 911

+40 (0) 256 403 917

The Department of Steel
Structures was established in 1948 under the leadership of Academician
Professor Dr. HC ing. Dan Mateescu. In 1961, the present building of the
Department and Laboratory of Steel Structures from Timisoara, situated on Ioan
Curea street, no. 1, was given in use. During 1981-1985, the name of the
Department was changed into the actual one: Department of Steel Structures and
Structural Mechanics - CMMC.

CMMC Department was the
initiator of a series of conferences as:

National
conferences on steel structures (with international participation) since 1973;

Through the Department of Steel
Structures and Structural Mechanics, the Politehnica University is a founding
member of the Association "Romanian Convention for Constructional
Steelwork - APCMR" from 2001, affiliated to the “European Convention for Constructional
Steelwork – ECCS”. During 2005-2006, the Director of the CMMC Department, Acad.
Prof. dr. ing. Dan Dubina owned the Presidency of the European Convention for
Constructional Steelwork

Areas of research

The main traditional areas
of research within the CMMC Department are:

Performance
of steel and composite steel-concrete structures under exceptional actions;

Light
gauge steel structures;

Sustainable
building design and technology;

Safety
in operation and rehabilitation of existing highway and railway bridges;

New
solution for composite bridges and new technologies for bridges.

Code-drafting activity is
very important within CMMC Department, which was involved in the translation of
European Norms, or in the elaboration of National Annexes for Romania, like
EN19933-1.3 Cold-Formed, EN19933-1.8 Structural Connections, EN19933-1.12 High
Strength Steels and the structural fire design parts of EN1993, EN1994 and
EN1999. Also, CMMC team elaborated the chapter for Steel structures of the
National Seismic Code P100-1/2013.

Design and consultancy is also one
important concern of the CMMC department, being involved in several objectives
in Romania. For two of the most important projects, the department received the
ECCS design award: Bancpost Building in Timisoara (2003) and Bucharest Tower
Centre (2007).

The Research Centre for
Mechanics of Materials and Structural Safety - CEMSIG was established in
1999 and in 2001 was qualified as Research Centre of Excellence by the National
University Research Council (CNCSIS). The research area focuses on cold formed
steel structures and performance of steel and composite structures under
seismic action, fire and other natural and man-made hazards. New directions
extend the area of expertise to seismic rehabilitation of existing buildings
using new techniques and materials, as well high-performance materials for
steel structures located in seismic regions.

The Laboratory of
Structures within CEMSIG has a comprehensive set of equipment which allows
testing various materials, joints, sub-assemblies and structures under
quasi-static monotonic and cyclic loading, as well under dynamic loading, at
room or high temperature.